After more than an hour of debate, the ASUO Programs Finance Committee approved a budget for The Insurgent, but no one seemed satisfied with the decision.
The budget was approved, but the money was placed into a holding account until certain legal questions are answered, which left both Insurgent contributors and PFC members discontent.
About 40 students and faculty members crammed into the EMU Board Room Tuesday night in anticipation of debate over The Insurgent’s funding.
Questions circulated for the past week over whether The Insurgent broke laws after it printed a four-page pullout from the Animal Liberation Front. The pullout, which detailed ways to break into laboratories, was placed next to a page that listed names of several biologists and research scientists who conduct tests on animals.
If The Insurgent had broken laws, the question was whether that fact would impact its funding.
PFC members were especially worried about legal issues — specifically whether passing or denying The Insurgent’s budget could lead to legal action regarding the incidental fee system.
But they were also concerned about whether printing such material would disqualify The Insurgent for incidental fee funding, which requires that a program contribute to the cultural and physical well being of University students.
Associate biology professor Bill Roberts asked whether The Insurgent was living up to its mission statement, which includes following state laws, when it printed an A.L.F. pullout that he thought clearly advocated arson.
The debate that ensued revolved around several different issues, but the recurring question was whether the PFC had a right to determine The Insurgent’s budget by judging its content.
Political science major Alan Tauber pointed out that the Clark Document, which governs how incidental fees should be divided, states that the PFC must limit itself to the question of cultural and physical development.
Several audience members voiced their support of The Insurgent and its role in contributing to their well being. Some pointed out that other publications on campus have printed inflammatory editorial material, yet none of them have been de-funded.
The seemingly endless debate prompted PFC member Aaron Weck to propose a middle ground: granting the group its money but placing it into a holding account.
Even though he suggested the compromise, Weck voted against his own motion. He said he wished there would have been another way to resolve the issue, but he simply didn’t think the extended debate was accomplishing anything.
“I think it was the only viable option to end debate reasonably,” he said. “They got the money they needed; it exists. If they’re innocent, then it’s not an issue.”
He added that he didn’t think the PFC had the right to make legal decisions.
Randy Newnham, vice chair of the PFC, voted in favor of the motion, but minutes after it passed, he was already regretting his decision.
Newnham said he wished he had proposed an amendment that would have given The Insurgent its money without putting it into a holding account.
“I was really torn … I wanted to see the group funded, and I thought in this way they would get funded,” he said.
Insurgent contributor and financial officer Willie Thompson strongly opposed putting the money in a holding account, saying that the PFC had authority to pass The Insurgent’s budget.
“The job of the PFC is to decide whether or not The Insurgent, as a program, contributes to the cultural and physical well being of students,” Thompson said. “I think that you all are people of sound mind and body, and can make an opinion on that.”
PFC Chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden declined to vote on the budget because, she said, the chairperson does not traditionally vote unless there is a tie.
In other hearings, the Child Care Subsidy began by asking for a 1.5 percent increase, but walked away with a 1.5 percent decrease.
Hours before the subsidy’s hearing, ASUO Non-Traditional Student Advocate Kathleen Workman — one of the program’s main coordinators — resigned.
Nonetheless, the show went on.
Weck insisted on a decrease in the group’s budget because of the $40,000 it rolled over into the general surplus last year.
ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jennifer Creighton said the rollover came as the program transitioned from the Child Care and Development Centers (CCDC) to the Executive office.
Under the control of CCDC for the past five years, the subsidy had yearly deficits of between $10,000 and $20,000, she said. When the Executive took over administration of the program this year, it was careful to not spend too much money before it understood the program’s prior spending habits.
Hearings for the Muslim Student Association, the Multicultural Center and the Oregon Future Lawyers Association were postponed until Thursday.